The 2025 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Gala Featuring Space Rendezvous
Space Geeks Gathering for Good ... Again
Exploring the intersection of spaceflight history, pop culture, and space art.
This edition of Creating Space covers the 2025 Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame celebration, held in May, including the space art show I participated in.
Are you new to Creating Space? It’s the NERDSletter that explores the intersection of spaceflight history, pop culture, and space art. You can find this and all other posts at creating-space.art.
Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Weekend
This year’s Astronaut Scholarship Foundation U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame celebration events were held in Cocoa Beach, Florida, over three days (May 29 through May 31). They proved to be even more enjoyable than last year’s which were also held in Cocoa Beach. Echoing last year’s events, the weekend was packed full of talks by astronauts and students, factory tours, and “table-centered” events (book signing, meals, gala) – more than enough to satisfy even the most enthusiastic Space Geeks.
The events were organized by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF), a non-profit organization that has, for the past forty-one years, provided scholarships to the brightest and most talented college students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.1 I am proud to be able to support the ASF in their educational mission. A portion of my art sales proceeds go directly to the ASF organization.
Once again this year, in conjunction with the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation hosted its Space Rendezvous which included astronaut talks, panel discussions, parties and receptions in celebration of all things space exploration, capping the three days off with a fundraising gala dinner at the Kennedy Space Center’s Saturn V Center. This year the ASF continued the Space Art show which I was very happy to be a part of for the third year.
Day Zero – The Donor Reception
The festivities kicked off a day early with a mix and mingle party for ASF donors. ASF president and CEO, Caroline Schumacher, hosted the evening. This would be her last event with the ASF, after serving in her roles for six years. The special guest of the night was astronaut Rick Mastracchio, a veteran of four space flights. He shared stories about his flights and gave all the attendees patches depicting several of his missions. It was fun to get to know many of the approximately two dozen event attendees, and a special treat to have some casual one-on-one time with Rick. This would be just the first of many astronaut encounters during the event.
Day One – The Universal Tour
The first official day of the event was reserved for holders of the highest-level ticket – the Universe ticket. A special day-long tour was the reward for buying such a pass. As I learned last year, the destination and details of the day are kept a secret until just before departure. But, judging from last year, when we toured the SpaceX Falcon 9 refurbishing facility, I knew it would be something special.
I had seen that Victor Glover was on the list of astronauts scheduled to attend the multi-day event. He, along with three other crewmates, are slated to travel to the Moon and back on the Artemis II mission currently scheduled for early next year. My hope was that the special tour might consist of a “Glover-guided tour” of his SLS rocket inside the massive Vehicle Assembly Building.
I would soon find out that I was incorrect in my hopeful prediction, but certainly not to be disappointed. We were informed after we boarded the bus that we would be touring the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket manufacturing facility. Isn’t it amazing that there is so much going on at the Kennedy Space Center that you can’t be certain what special behind-the-scenes tour you’ll get to go on!?
As I have a lot to share about our special tour – more than enough to fill at least another article – I will leave you in suspense until my next post. For now, I will share this photo of our tour group in the bus showing all our happy faces after we learned what treasures the day would hold.
Day Two – Astronaut Encounters, Space Talks, Book Signing, Space Art Reception
One of the best aspects of attending the ASF Astronaut Hall of Fame weekend are the many random encounters with astronauts that can happen, a feature that I am certain is designed into the gathering by the organizers. One remarkable example of this occurred at breakfast on Friday morning. I was sitting at a table with Burt Dicht, current Director of membership for the National Space Society, and another couple, and we were joined by former astronaut – and one of the weekend’s inductees to the Astronaut Hall of Fame – Bernard Harris. Then, who should walk over and sit down but Skylab astronaut, Joe Kerwin, with his daughter and his niece! Joe was there to moderate one of the astronaut panel discussions later that day.
After breakfast, I had a quick one-on-one elevator ride with former astronaut and NASA administrator during the Obama years, Charlie Bolden. Charlie was incredibly quick with his answer to my question about his favorite part of his career. With a big smile, “The people!”, he said, even before I finished asking the question.
The morning events kicked off with a talk by astronaut Michael López-Alegría. He spoke about Axiom Space and their planned space station. Coincidentally, former NASA astronaut and current Axiom astronaut, Peggy Whitson, was in pre-flight quarantine with her crew for the Axiom 4 mission to the International Space Station at the time. She would be the second of the weekend’s inductees to the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
As was the case at last year’s ASF event, attendees were gifted a signed book written by one of the astronauts. This year’s astronaut-author was Cady Coleman.
Following the book signing was a panel discussion on the topic of spacewalks. Skylab astronaut, Joe Kerwin, served as the moderator for the panel. He was joined by former astronauts, Jerry Ross, Bernard Harris, and Joe Tanner.
During the provided lunch buffet, the random astronaut encounters continued with Kathy Thornton and Fred Gregory. Also joining us at the table was respected space historian and collector, Larry McGlynn. Larry is incredibly knowledgeable and enthusiastic about collecting space memorabilia and artifacts. During the return bus ride from the previous day’s tour, he shared with me the story of a Snoopy-themed watch he was wearing. It was a real treat to be able to hold this substantially-weighty object for a few moments.
The afternoon talks kicked off with the International Cooperation in Space panel. Moderated by Bob Cabana, the panel consisted of Michael López-Alegría, Norman Thagard, Bob Crippen, and Julie Payette.
The second panel of the afternoon gave some of the Astronaut Scholars a chance to speak about their experiences and areas of study. Participating on the panel were Cooper Jacobus, Harrison Blake-Goszyk, Will Jarvis, Sarai Rankin, Sarah Stamer, Catherine Millwater, Sasha Gladkova, and Larry Bradley (moderator).
Space Art Reception
The art show was a main highlight of the weekend for me for several reasons. Of course, it is always a special time and a privilege to be able to share my space-inspired artwork with fellow space enthusiasts and professionals. To exhibit alongside renowned space artist Chris Calle, with whom I have now shared the ASF venue three times, is indeed an honor. Fellow space artist Lee Wilson was there, as well, this year. And, making his debut at the event was Astronaut Scholar and astrophotographer, Will Jarvis. Astronaut and artist Nicole Stott, who displayed her artwork at the 2024 event and was scheduled to appear again this year, was unfortunately unable to attend.
The reception was well-attended and interest was so great that it ran much longer than the originally-scheduled hour-and-a-half. I had some great conversations with a number of the attendees. Jessica Carr, daughter of Skylab astronaut Gerald Carr, became an instant fan of my artwork. She was an absolute hoot to talk with and her enthusiasm was over the Moon. She and Tom Stafford’s daughter, Dionne, both loved my Bubble LEM rendering and each ended up purchasing one for their collections. Dionne even got one for her son, as well.
The most unexpected encounter of the evening was meeting former Air Force fighter pilot and sculptor, Ed Dwight. You may be familiar with the name through the National Geographic documentary called The Space Race. Ed holds a very unique position in spaceflight history. He was chosen in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to train as an experimental test pilot in preparation to become the first African American astronaut. But sadly, history (and the U.S. government) turned out not to be quite ready for that kind of social change in the early 1960s. So, he was prevented from following his dream by the prejudices of the time.
Fast forward to our modern times when billionaires seem to be flying more rockets than governments. Ed finally rose into the space above our atmosphere on a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket in 2024. For his full story, it is worth watching the 2023 documentary about his life and experiences.
Toward the end of the art reception, I noticed Ed talking with some people standing not too far from me. My gaze must have caught his eye because he turned my way. I nodded in acknowledgement and gave him a wave. He came right over to talk to me. He led off by joking that his eyesight was so bad that he thought I was a statue at first! Not surprising, I suppose, coming from someone who now creates sculptures of human figures every day. That kicked off a wonderful conversation about art with a man most noted for his aviation experiences.
Ed volunteered some advice on how best to showcase my artwork, and shared his own experiences exhibiting and selling his sculptures. He was very interested in seeing my artwork, and since his eyesight has deteriorated, his son (I believe that’s who it was) acted as interpreter, describing each piece in great detail as Ed got in close to each image. For me, hearing the verbal interpretations of my own works from another person – and seeing Ed’s reactions – was a very special experience.
Being an engineer and an artist, myself, it was incredible to speak with Ed and share our experiences being creative artists. In retrospect, it is interesting to me that the topic was entirely about art. I don’t recall anything said about his aviation career.
Here’s a photo of the two of us. (Ed is the one small enough to fit comfortably inside a Mercury space capsule.)
This engaging interaction and lively conversation went on for perhaps twenty or thirty minutes – well past the end of the reception. Then, we were joined by former astronaut and ASF Board member Leland Melvin. Leland, who was also featured in The Space Race, is very passionate about art and its relationship to engineering and science – and their combined roles in education. I wish I had a recording of these conversations with both Ed and Leland, because they were nothing short of mind-blowing.
At one point, Leland noticed that my Space Shuttle illustration, called Double Boosted, featured the Atlantis orbiter. That happens to be the spacecraft that Leland flew on each of his two space missions. He was so excited by this – and loved the artwork so much – that he decided to buy it!
The photo of Ed Dwight and myself was taken by Leland. This one of myself and Leland, with Double Boosted, was taken by Ed Dwight.
I can now count four space fliers as owners of my artwork – Anousheh Ansari, Linda Godwin, Nicole Stott, and now Leland. Add to those Jessica Carr and Dionne Stafford and her son, mentioned before, as offspring of astronauts who now also have my artwork in their homes.
A French-Canadian Connection
There is one more story I would like to share with you. In 1999, I witnessed my first Space Shuttle launch. The mission was STS-96. Among the seven-member crew was Canadian Space Agency’s Julie Payette embarking on her first trip to space. It was a picture-perfect launch of Discovery. As the exhaust plume rose up through the Earth’s predawn shadow, it entered sunrise a few thousand feet above ground level. The rocket entered the sunlight just after crossing through a thin layer of clouds. As the Shuttle continued to ascend, the exhaust plume cast a long shadow onto the cloud layer, painting a dark line across the sky extending as far as I could see to the west. It was a spectacular sight that I remember to this day.
After the early morning launch, my father and I went out for breakfast at one of the restaurants along North Atlantic Avenue in Cocoa Beach. Ahead of us in line were a group of people speaking French. Knowing that Julie Payette had just launched aboard the Shuttle, I guessed they may be relatives or friends of hers. Digging up some of my old high school French class vocabulary, I approached and asked, “parlez vous Anglais?” (Do you speak English?). They did, and sure enough they turned out to be family members of Julie’s who had witnessed that morning’s launch.
I had been curious about Julie’s personal patch that she wore on her flight suit. I did my best to make clear to her family my questions about the patch, but I guess something was lost in translation. My curiosity about that patch was never completely satisfied.
Well, as it happened, I was finally able to ask Julie, herself, about the patch over a quarter century later. There is something that happens when you hit upon a passionate subject with someone. My question about Julie’s personal patch ignited a spark within her like you rarely see in people. She proceeded to pull up the image of her patch on her phone and walk me through all of the symbolism as well as how she worked with the artist who created it.
Again, I wish I had recorded her description. Julie went through each of the individual elements, describing their significance and what they meant to her. Short of having a word-for-word transcript of her description to me, here is a paragraph translated from an Italian website that tells a small part of the story.2
“The Payette Badge was created by Canadian artist Gérard Dansereau. It depicts a red rocket traveling through blue space, from Earth to the stars, carrying within it a star, a musical note, a crescent moon, and a rose, while a blue cat strolls on the outside of the fuselage. The predominant colors are gold, red, silver, and blue. The rocket represents Payette, carrying with it her ideals and her loves, but also the human race’s ability to transcend its limitations.”
Then, without hesitation after describing her personal space mission patch, Julie pulled up another image from her phone. This time, it was the Coat of Arms associated with her time as the Governor General of Canada from 2017 to 2021. Once again, her eyes lit up as she went through each element of the design – which has some of the same references displayed in her personal patch.
Here is an infographic from the website of the Governor General of Canada that identifies some of the main elements and their symbolism.
This year’s experience at the ASF Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction weekend was by far the most gratifying for me. From the factory tours to the personal interactions, and because of the most successful art show I have had so far, the trip will stay in my memory for a very long time.
Coming ‘Round the Mountain
One of the joys of flying out of Seattle is that sometimes the pilot uses Mount Rainier as a racing pylon. Here’s the view out my window as the plane left the Pacific Northwest on the way to Florida. This was by far the best view of what people here call “The Mountain” I have ever had.
Merch of the Month
Double Boosted Giclée Print
Relive the thrill of watching the Space Shuttle launch every day with this high-quality wall art in your home or office.
I'm Dave Ginsberg, the artist behind Pixel Planet Pictures and writer of Creating Space.
I am an artist and a creative engineer with a love for teaching and passions for spaceflight, astronomy, and science. My space-inspired art portfolio can be found at pixel-planet-pictures.com.
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All images and text copyright © Dave Ginsberg, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
Realizzazione Stemmi Araldici, Stemmi Araldici Nobiliari, Personali, Religiosi, Esoterici (Coat of Arms Creation: Noble, Personal, Religious, and Esoteric Coats of Arms) (https://www.pittorearaldico.it/stemma-araldico-di-julie-payette-astronauta-e-governatrice-del-canada/)
You're welcome Dave!
Now I have to go back and fix my embarrassing grammatical error in the post! If it'll let me! LOL!!
Hey!! It let me fix it!! Yea!!
What a fun time Dave! You do get to meet great people with your work and fun that you engage in! You're building a life time of great memories and story scenarios for the far future generations and historians! What an adventure and pure fun!